Improvement in folding chairs



B. F. LITTLE & R. B. PRINDLE.

Folding-Chairs.

Patented Feb. 3,1874.

BENJAMIN F. LITTLE AND RUSSEL PATENT OFFICE.

PRINDLE, OF N ORVICH, YNEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN FOLDING CHAIRS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 147,147, dated February3, 1874 application filed January 8, 1874.

A To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that we, BENJ. F. LITTLE and RUSSEL B. PRINDLE, of Norwich,in the county of Chenango and in the State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Folding Chairs; and do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a partof this speciiication, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of ourchair as arranged for use, and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same asclosed for storage.

Letters of like name and hind refer to like parts' in each of thefigures.

p The design of our invention is to increase the comfort, strength, anddurability of folding chairs, and to lessen the amount of space occupiedby them when folded together; and to this end it consists in thepeculiar construction and combination of the various parts of the chair,substantially as and for the purpose hereinafter specified.

In the annexed drawing, A and A represent two bars, constructed in theform of double reverse curves, and connected together by means of twocross-bars, B and B, which extend between said parts near their ends.Two similar but shorter bars, C and C, are connected together near oneend of each by means of a cross-bar, D, and at or near theirlongitudinal centers are pivoted to and between the bars A and A, insuch a manner as to bring the lines of their curves directly voppositeto each other. Near the upper ends of the bars C and C, and fromcorresponding points upon the barsA and A, two cross-bars, E and E,extend between the same, and furnish attachments for the ends of aiiexible seat, F, which extends between said cross-bars, and whendistended, as' seen in Fig. 1, performs the usual office. Pivoted uponthe outer face of each bar C, at its upper end, is a reverse curved bar,G, which from thence extends rearward and upward, and rests upon theupper end of the corresponding bar A. One or more rails, H, extendbetween the upper ends of the bars G, and not only insure their relativepositions, but also furnish a support for the back of the person whooccupies the said bar A, in which position said bar I oper ates as abrace, and limits the outward motion of the upper ends of said bars Aand C, and also insures the vertical position of the parts forming thechair-back.

As thus constructed, the chair sustains the weight of a person withoutreference to the tension of the seat, the office performed by the latterbeing simply that of a seat, and not, as is usually the case, that of astop or brace for limiting the spread of the upper end of the pivotedbars, the result of which is that the durability of said seat and theusefulness of the chair are materially increased.

Then not in use, the chair may be caused to occupy a comparatively smallspace by turning the back forward and downward uutil its upper end restsagainst the lower ends of the bars A and C, by which operation said barsare closed together, and the whole caused to assume the form shown inFig. 2.

By providing a stud, a., within the upper end of each bar A, andacorrespouding opening, g, within the contiguous portion of the back barG, the stability of said parts will be materially increased.

Having thus fully set forth the nature and merits of our' invention,what we claim as new The hereinbefore-described folding chair,consisting of the barsA, (j, and Gr, cross-bars B, l), E, and H, bracesI, and seat F, all constructed and combined to operate in the manner andfor the purpose substantially as specified.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing' we have hereunto set our handsthis 19th day of December, 1873.

Witnesses:

GEO. A. THOMAS, A. SHErARDsoN.

